Surrey Advertiser,
Stoke Mill,
Woking Road,
V.
Guildford,
Surrey GU1 1QA
Concert captures
the mood of Russia
As someone who was brought
up in Russia and spent most of
her life there, may I use the
letter facility to express my
admiration and gratitude for
the concert
A Russian
Spectacular which I had the
privilege of attending last
Saturday evening?
I have often listened to
performances in Moscow at
the Bolshoi and other well
known theatres in the days
when tickets were subsidised
by the state, and I had not expected to be moved by a
performance in a fairly small
English town quite far from
the capital.
Everything seemed to be so
beautifully planned, from the
choice of venue in that
particular cathedral with its
~ relatively simple, but noble
interior to the content of the
programme which contained
such different elements of
Russian music but combined
them so cleverly
especially when I have heard
frequently about the
underfunding of the arts in
this country.
No wonder they can
command the services of
conductors so inspiring as
Jeremy Backhouse and soloists
such as the pianist Jeremy
Filsell and mezzo soprano
Teresa Shaw.
So I do ask you to publish
this letter which is a tribute I
believe all those in the large
audience would also like to
make.
I shall never forget how,
soon after the solo of the
young woman mourning the
dead of the victorious battle
against the Teutonic knights,
the performance ended and
we all left that lovely building
with the rose-tinted evening
sun falling on the white stone
pillars at the western end of
the cathedral.
-
I think God was putting his
seal on the evening. Thank
you Guildford.
-
LUDMILLA PRESNIAKOVA
Iveagh Road,
- pre-revolutionary Borodin,
Guildford.
Rachmaninov, who died in
Beverly Hills, and Prokofiev,
drawn irresistibly back to
Russia despite the restraints
he was to suffer under Stalin.
The Guildford Philharmonic
Choir with its chorus of over
100 singers did marvellous
justice to the lyrics, and in
Russian, and I cannot
understand how so much
talent and virtuosity could be
found in the supporting,
largely amateur, Forest
Philharmanic Orchestra,
&
Surrey Advertiser 28th May 2004